Hey folks--

Can anyone point me in the direction of either a book reference or drop me skills here for how to boost a car...

Is it Electronics or Vehicle BR for hotwiring the car?

Bypassing security systems--I'm thinking maybe in rigger??

I'm away from my pile of books at the moments and was hoping to get some help from our wonderful online community...

Thanks much.

i would say electronics for hotwireing the car.

Hm.. My GM had me use Electronics when I was hotwiring the Van... But Kitsune doesn't exactly have Vehicle B/R. But you'd think it would be Electronics...

I dunno.

Vehicle b/r is gonna have to include necessary electronics skill for vehicles;modern vehicles are all controlled by electronics, there are very few things left in a vehicle that when you activate it or anything, it doesn't go trhough some module/computer. A modern Ford Expedition can have up to 18 different modules in it. I would let electonics be a skill to default to for hotwiring, and maybe with no defaulting penalties if a wiring diagramis available (no diagram necssary with vehicle b/r)

I believe the rules for stealing a car is in Rigger 3, it also talks about getting rid of the transponder chip to keep the cops from tracking you and the termination chip to stop the cops from shutting down the car remotely. Electronics B/R and I believe Computer B/R are the 2 skills needed for the operations, Car B/R is not as far as I can remember.

there's a thread from a while ago that went through stealing a car step by step and named the skills involved, trying to find it now...

Aye -- Rigger 3 includes details on how to boost a car.

Cars using maglocks require Electronics B/R to bypass the door lock as well as the ignition keypad.

To hack the transponder chip, a character needs Computer (I don't _think_ it was Comp B/R).

As far as my memory stretches.

-Siege

What about "Gone in 60 Seconds", Shadowrun Style?

You can find it in Rig3. The rules are something like this. (Same as Maglocks)

To get to the door wires w/o triggering alarm:
Electronics B/R (TN 4/5) + Situational Mods (Maglock plans, under fire, etc)
Base time 1 min/succs + 1 if there's the Rigger Vehicle sec upgrade option

To open the door w/o the same:
Electronics (TN 4/5) + Situation [Usually works out to be a TN of one less than the door]
Base time: Same as above

Start the car? I just have 'em pull a Vehicle B/R or Electronics roll, don't remember the specifics .. Whatever I feel like at the time, and type of vehicle.


Overall, if you have a decent Car thief, he can make it out in 60 Secs (as per the movie), but it's still a challenge. All depending on situation. The only thing is that if he's doing it in a combat situation, he'll be out of the action for a good clip of time and uncinematic.
Of course, there's all the nifty gadgets mentioned above like the transponder chip which I figure can be modded to lock the doors and drive remotly to another location (a la Knight Rider style) delivering the Perps straight to LS, if that's what you want But assuming, like any run, if the PC's get into the car w/o triggering anything, they should have more than enough time to get out of the immediate area and ditch the car before anyone knows that it's gone, Right? (*grin*)


Wailer

The main reason I see for stealing a car in SR is to do a run with it, not steal it then abandon it seconds later trying to avoid getting caught. That is why you ditch the chips, so you can use the car without much worry. You would still have to worry as the cops look for cars with out transponders or transponders that don't match the cars plates. So the trick is steal a car were it won't be missed for a while, say the long term parking lot at a local airport, get rid of the chips, have a bogus chip to replace the good ones, hide the car until you need it (no joy riding in the getaway car), then torch the thing in the barrens when done.

Doing a boost like in the movie, you would still want to get rid of the chips as soon as possible to make sure you get away, why take chances? We had gotten suckered onto "Gone in 60 seconds" run by our fixer. One of the PC's made a mistake and in order to get something that would have cost us a whole bunch more money then we had, he made a deal if we pulled his fat out of the fire he would pull ours out. My character was the best at electronics another was the best at computers, we had the other guy drive us around looking for targets. I would break into the car and et the other guy in while I was tearring off down the street the computer wiz would take care of the chips and make us a clean get away. The other guy just followed us and made sure we got were we needed to go and be our fire support. Boosting cars is one thing carrying a firearm while doing it is a whole other set of crimes. So the back sat in a van with the big guns watching our backs.

Oh my character was gettign the cars in well under 60 seconds, and is now addicted to stealing cars, every where he goes he "borrows" a ride. I don't think his car has been out of the garage since.

Ditching chips doesn't really solve anything, because According to R3 NOT having a chip is illegal too. So not having a chip just gets you a different kind of screwed, but youre still screwed. You still set off flags driving around or when you get scanned at intersections.

Just hotwire the car and take it to the chop shop and get the chips swaped with dummy ones.

If you're on good terms with a chop-shop, it's a fast way to rustle up quick cash.

The drawback being -- you'd better have one hell of a driving skill if a random LS patrol flags you.

-Siege

I thought I put in there you should have dummy chips with matching plates, oh well I guess I goofed. I would still rather have a LS car chasing me then surrounding me because the police hit the termination chip and the car is now stopped and locked waiting for the Star to come pick me up.

Skills required to boost a car:

Pistols 6

Intimidations 4

"Get the frag out of the car you drek head!"

Say this while waiving the pistol a him. Make sure you pick some guy who doesn't look like he will shoot back.

Works for me, though it isn't very subtle.

Then he calls the 'Star and they run his plates based on his SIN and before you are 5 minutes down the road they have two Yellowjackets zeroing in on your position.

That's if your GM is a mean bastard though.

Nice links in the Webpository.

Rember that a simple carjacking is hardly a major (media) crime (if nobody got hurt), sending two choppers out after it is a bit extreme...

Especially when they can send drones to do the same thing.

Although, since helicopters are often deployed on car chases today, it's not that much of a stretch. Location is a large factor in how much presence LS needs.

-Siege

All they have to do is (and this is the reason I say get rid of the chips) is take the victims name to find out what car is his. Then send a signal to the car to lock the doors and drive to the local Star HQ. No car chase, no helicopters, just a stupid criminal delivered with a bow. I believe it even talks about it in the Rigger 3 book. just like it talks about the Grid Guide will divert traffic and change lights for the cops to get to a crime scene quicker.

They can't take the victim's name if you crack him upside the head and stuff him in the trunk!

No, Not until DocWagon starts chasing you looking for the guy that just went out cold/died. Then they call Lone Star to report a possible Kidknapping.

Greensally up, Greensally down...

I am all for stealing cars for a quick get away, but the way things are explianed in the Rigger 3 you had better have a electronics guy along to extend your ride.

The tranq thing is probably your best bet. As it might not raise any alrams right away.

I seem to remember cars now have Panic Buttons in them wired into the gride guide onboard computer, so you might want to aim for a car that is not SoTA

[EDIT]

I reccomend a Jammer to anyone boosting a car in 2063. Jam the car's transponder and get it to the chopshop as fast as you can. If you have the skills, jam the car's specific transponder frequency while broadcasting a dealer or anon signal.

For speed, I've always gone with a 5lb sledge and a cold chisel. Then a muscle-augmented Electronics (B/R) to remove the unneeded transponder bits. Not elegent. Not at all, but very, very fast. Especially when you don't care about needing to tie the door closed to drive off.

According to Rigger 3, page 18.

Removing a Termination Chip requires an Electronics B/R 5 test with a base time of 10 minutes.

Presumeably, this is to disable the termy chip without fragging the entire electrical system.

-Siege

I had a rigger NPC once who boosted cars when they wouldn't be missed for a day or two (he'd do research on the owners, etc.), brought them to his shop, added an RC interface, and drove them right back to their spaces. In this way he had a huge network of dormant drones all over the city that he could access when he wanted. He'd give the players rides out of trouble with vehicles that just happened to be parked a few blocks away, or use them to crash into persuing vehicles, etc. He boosted a lot of cars to just chop up and sell, too, considering that RC interfaces aren't cheap.

That guy made a shitload of money from the PCs.